Hello again! This is Hailey, and I’m here to catch you up on the details of our latest trip to Hilton Head Island and The Most Magical Place on Earth!

The original plan for this trip was to be our first summer trip to visit Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, since we have visited the island many times, but only in the off-season. But we ended up giving in to the FOMO and decided to cut the HHI portion of the trip shorter, so that we could add on a few nights at WDW. We had to drive down to Hilton Head anyway, so why not just drive a few more hours to get to Disney World? That was our logic, at least!

The trip started out with some lovely pool and beach time at the Beach House portion of the resort in Hilton Head. Like I said, we had only ever been here in the cooler months before, so we haven’t spent much time actually enjoying the pools and ocean before. I have been in the pools a few times before, but I was generally shivering the whole time! As my mom likes to say: the pools are heated, but the air is not!

This time around, the pool water felt a bit more like bath water. So not as refreshing as I might have hoped in the hot and humid South Carolina weather. But we all still had a great time anyway! Plus, the Beach House serves Mickey Pretzels, which are such a fun pool snack!

After spending a few days in Hilton Head, we packed up the van and continued the ride to Florida. A few hours later, we arrived at Disney’s BoardWalk, checked in to the resort, and made it to our room! Our room had a beautiful view overlooking the resort’s pool, and we could even see Tower of Terror off in the distance! Once we were all settled into our room, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. The July heat in Florida is no joke, especially in the afternoon. Taking frequent breaks is a must!

One of the main things we wanted to accomplish on this trip was trying out/seeing a few new things that we hadn’t experienced before. The first of these things was trying The Beak and Barrel, the pirate-themed lounge located right beside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. This was such a cool experience! We were seated right at the bar and had a great view of the area where Rummy the parrot frequently comes out to share stories and talk to the guests. There were so many little easter eggs and nods to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, it was so fun to try to spot them. For alcoholic drinks, we tried the Barrels Ablaze and the Hibiscus Rum Punch Royale. I decided that I wanted to try one of the non-alcoholic offerings, called the Treasure Trove. The Treasure Trove comes with one of two types of drinks, I chose the tropical infusion of sprite, pineapple, mango, and guava option, which was delicious! It is also served with a vanilla cake plank, chocolate cannonball, and caramel popcorn, all of which were really good. We decided to also try out the Island Provisions, which was three different types of chips served with four different dips. Overall, I loved this experience and the food/drinks were great! And shoutout to bartender Jimbo, who made the experience even more immersive!

We also had to hop on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which had recently reopened after being closed for refurbishment. During this refurbishment, the ride vehicles, blasters, and targets were upgraded. The blasters are now handheld, allowing for more movement, and light up in either red or green, which I think helps you aim better and keep track of the targets you are hitting, which also light up in the corresponding color. If you look at your ride picture from this ride in My Disney Experience, the picture now shows your score, rank, the total number of targets you hit, and the special targets you hit. I think this is such a cool feature! I hit 137 targets, but apparently I hit all the lower scoring targets because my dad hit 89 targets and scored over 100 thousand more than me. I can’t wait to ride it again!

To end the night, we watched the evening parade for the first time, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. All of the light effects in the costumes and the parade floats were really fun. The final float was my favorite, I loved all of the characters on the train and the little face on the train was so adorable!

The next day, we visited Epcot. While we were there, we made sure to check out Soarin’ Across America. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the ride was changed to feature locations all across the United States. These locations include the Kennedy Space Center, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Diamond Head, and more! It was fun to try to guess all of the locations as we flew through them. I like that they have been changing up the locations in this ride lately, and I enjoy being able to “visit” different locations than the usual ones!

The other new thing that we wanted to try out on our Epcot day was GEO-82, a 21+ bar and lounge. The drinks at this bar are pretty different from those you might find anywhere else. The drinks are innovative, and kind of bizarre. My dad has been on an old fashioned kick lately, so he was really excited to try out this new spot and their Brown Butter Old-Fashioned, which he really enjoyed. We also tried out two of the small bite offerings, the charcuterie board and the cannellini hummus, both of which were delicious. My mom and I also got a drink to share, which was the Electron… and yeah that was pretty gross to be honest. Unless you are a fan of mezcal, I would advise that you steer clear of this drink. This is one of those innovative yet bizarre drinks, which I would say also includes their Tuscan Olive Oil Martini and Pink Peppercorn Clover Club drinks. We didn’t try either of those, but the reaction of a nearby guest to the latter would suggest that it’s not too tasty either. Overall, we did really like the food and atmosphere (and the view was great!), but my mom and I aren’t super adventurous drinkers so we weren’t in love with the drink offerings here.

Our park for the next day was Hollywood Studios, and while we were here we made sure to check out the newly reimagined Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets. I liked seeing more vibrant colors in this area, and the theming in the ride queue was cool. But we didn’t get to see the entire pre-ride show, so that was kind of a bummer. Other than that, the ride itself was the same besides adding in different set pieces near the ride’s track. Honestly, I’m not a Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster fan and never have been, so this was a one and done for me.

We also tried out one of the new missions on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. The missions have been redone to include the Mandalorian and Grogu, after the release of the new Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu film. One of the exciting changes that came with this update was that the engineers now have a larger role to play. Before, the engineer was the least exciting role of the three (the other two being gunner and pilot). But now, the engineers get to use the tractor beam, hang out with Grogu, choose the planet that your mission goes to (Bespin, Coruscant, or Endor), and basically just push a lot more buttons than they got to before. We visited Endor this time, but I’m hoping for Coruscant next!

The last new and exciting thing we did while we were here was see the outdoor part of the new Animation Courtyard area. The indoor portion doesn’t open until September 14th, so we are hoping to check that out next time! Just near the new Sorcerer Mickey hat you can spot some super fun foot/hand/paw prints from classic Disney characters. My favorites were Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz, so cute!

This area also has roaming characters, so you never know who you might meet! We saw Donald Duck, Moana, Rapunzel, Goofy, Chip, and Dale. Chip and Dale were playing the cutest game of hide and seek! It is so cool seeing the characters out and about, so that they can freely interact with the guests. I’m excited to see how this area continues to develop!

Our final day in the parks was spent at Animal Kingdom. While we were here, we saw the Zootopia: Better Zoogether! show, which is a super cute show and should be on your to-do list! I love the theming in the queue and the little displays that they have in the waiting area, the jewelry display from “Pawdora” is so clever!

We also visited Bluey’s Wild World at Conservation Station. Bluey is such a funny and cute show, my whole family loves watching it (including my cat, Tony!). However, I would say that this experience is more geared towards the younger fans. The main Bluey-themed events here are the Bluey and Bingo meet-and-greet, as well as a dance party. I think it would be perfect for the younger kids who want to have some fun with Bluey and Bingo.

After our short day here, it was time to start the drive back home. We were all relieved to be back home and out of the insane Florida heat. We had a few nice and cool days at home before our Virginia weather warmed up a good bit too, but hey, I’m not complaining because I’m not ready for fall yet! Keep an eye out for another blog coming soon, about our recent Royal Caribbean cruise!

Until next time!

Hailey